Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now! Learn more

Reply
NuTek
Frequent Visitor

Pass-through relationship not working... Why?

I have three tables with a relationship between each one

 

Table1

Key1

Col1

 

Table2

Key1

Key2

Col2

 

Table3

Key2

Col3

 

Relationships:

Table1(Key1) --> Table2(Key1)

Table2(Key2) --> Table3(Key2)

 

If I add a slicer on Table3's column Key2 and a table visual displaying Table1.Col1, I expected the table's contents to change when I select different values in the slicer.   They do not.    If I add Table2.col2 to the table visual everything works.

 

Why doesn't Power BI walk through the relationships from Table3->Table2->Table1 if I do not reference a column from Table2?

 

 

In SQL I can do the equivalent query and it works (see below), so why not in Power BI?

     Select Table1.Col1

       from Table1, Table2, Table3

     where Table1.Key1 = Table2.Key1

        and Table2.Key2 = Table3.Key3

        and Table3.Col3 = 'XYZ'

 

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Greg_Deckler
Community Champion
Community Champion

Are your filter directions really unidirectional? If so, that's probably your answer, convert them to cross-filter in both directions.



Follow on LinkedIn
@ me in replies or I'll lose your thread!!!
Instead of a Kudo, please vote for this idea
Become an expert!: Enterprise DNA
External Tools: MSHGQM
YouTube Channel!: Microsoft Hates Greg
Latest book!:
DAX For Humans

DAX is easy, CALCULATE makes DAX hard...

View solution in original post

2 REPLIES 2
Greg_Deckler
Community Champion
Community Champion

Are your filter directions really unidirectional? If so, that's probably your answer, convert them to cross-filter in both directions.



Follow on LinkedIn
@ me in replies or I'll lose your thread!!!
Instead of a Kudo, please vote for this idea
Become an expert!: Enterprise DNA
External Tools: MSHGQM
YouTube Channel!: Microsoft Hates Greg
Latest book!:
DAX For Humans

DAX is easy, CALCULATE makes DAX hard...

Thanks! I missed the bi-directional relationship 🙂

 

Helpful resources

Announcements
Power BI DataViz World Championships

Power BI Dataviz World Championships

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now!

December 2025 Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - December 2025

Check out the December 2025 Power BI Holiday Recap!

FabCon Atlanta 2026 carousel

FabCon Atlanta 2026

Join us at FabCon Atlanta, March 16-20, for the ultimate Fabric, Power BI, AI and SQL community-led event. Save $200 with code FABCOMM.